What's in a Name?

It was between Leland or Calvin, with the middle name of Michel (Dad's first name) and no one could decide. Way back in the begining, Mom decided she wanted an "Irish old man name" and surprisingly, Dad said he liked it. Dad's always been a fan of the cartoon Calvin & Hobbes. Mom said she actually liked the name Calvin too, and Dad agreed. They said they'd have to see me to decide for sure. That proved to be more difficult than imagined.

After I was born, and Mom had been fed, the took us down to the Mother & Infant wing of the hospital. There, Grandma and Grandpa unveiled my new hat. They'd bought it months previous and were sure that I had to wear it now. Right now. The nurses came to introduce themselves and noticing the hat and my lack of name, they took to calling me "Sparty." (They are State Fans too!)

("Sparty")

The day we were due to be discharged, the Records Lady kept coming into the room to see if we had come to a conclusion, but there was still no decision. She said she'd be leaving at 10:30am, so she needed a decision before we went home. At 10:25, in his normal fashion of LATE, Dad walks into our room. Mom quickly states that they needed to flip a coin because she didn't want to have to drive back to the hospital to name me. They flipped Dad's lucky coin a few times, it landed on Leland. Mom, still unsure asks "Are you sure? Are you positive? You're sure?" while hurrying to the phone to call the Records Lady. Records Lady picks up, Mom is still asking Dad if he's sure...he's not sure...Mom says "I think we have a name for you." and that's that.

I'm now Leland Michel Becker.

(As you can see, I was nameless for a while.)

The next day, Mom and Dad BOTH called me Calvin, multiple times. Perhaps they chose wrong?

Our Hospital Stay

While in the hospital, we had a few visitors. Saturday, Grandma, Grandpa, and Great Grandma Hursey came to see us.

(Great Grandma Hursey lovin' on me)

Then Zipporah, her fiance and baby in the womb came too!

There were others; Aunt Andrea (Dad's sister) and Elsie (Andrea's Mother-in-Law), but Mom forgot to take pictures of that...she's not very good at remembering.

The next day, Mom waited and waited on Dad to arrive because I still didn't have a name. Read about my naming in another post.

(Here I am as a bab-a-rito, waiting on Dad to arrive so we can go home)

After I was named, we were discharged. Mom and Dad got me dressed in my go-home clothes (Mom forgot to pack socks) and put me in my new car seat.

(Dad and I getting ready to go.)

When we got home that day, Grandma and Grandpa were waiting for us. We had other visitors too! Grandma and Grandpa's long time friends, Roland and Paula and their daughter Kim (again, Mom forgot to take pictures). Then Dad's brother, Uncle Matt, Aunt Denise and their gaggle of kids; Noah, Jonah, Micah and my newest cousin Selah came too!

(Me and Selah, I'm on the left. She's about a month older)

(Selah and I with Mom and Aunt Denise)

All in all, my first couple of days were good.